I would like to tell my readers that those looking for quick, fast and furious action will probably be better off looking elsewhere but I hope that those who want to read a good story will find this one rewarding.
I hope that my Marathi speaking readers will appreciate conversations that took place in Marathi. These are recorded in italics. For the benefit of others, these are immediately followed by English translations.
Please do vote and send me your constructive feedback.
All characters are above 18 years of age.
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It was the late Nineteen Hundred Sixties. I was a young guy just out of management school. I had recently moved to Bombay (Mumbai now) to join a big multinational company as a management trainee. The pay was decent. Life was good. Apart from immersing myself in challenging and interesting assignments at work, I was having a great time exploring the sights, sounds and smells of the great metropolis, things I had only dreamt about while growing up in a small town in the interior of Maharashtra. The world lay at my feet!
I lived as a paying guest in a bachelor pad - an independent room with an attached toilet, part of a large apartment owned by an old Sindhi lady. My room had a separate entrance, so I could come and go as I wished, without disturbing my landlady. She was very friendly, and took a keen maternal interest in my health and wellbeing, insisting on feeding me hearty breakfasts, although that wasn't part of our agreement. The apartment was situated in a cosmopolitan, middle class neighbourhood in one of Mumbai's western suburbs. Most of our neighbours were young professionals or business people. There were lots of little children and many senior citizens too.
Gargi lived in a neighbouring building and we struck up an acquaintance soon after I had moved into the neighbourhood. After all we were both Maharashtrians and it was nice to have someone to speak to in Marathi, in a mixed multilingual neighbourhood. She was perhaps in her late twenties, several years older than me. She was a typical Mumbai girl; smart, lively, energetic and outgoing. She was of medium height and had a trim but full figure. She had sharp features and bright, expressive eyes that flashed merrily when she laughed and joked.
Gargi was always well groomed and dressed in smart clothes. Her clothes were chosen to accentuate her natural sensuality, but were never loud. Although she was very sensuous, she wasn't at all slutty. She did own a few daringly cut and revealing blouses or
cholis
but she took care to wrap her
pallu
securely around her shoulders whenever she wore them, keeping her treasures hidden from prying eyes. She specially liked saris and wore them at home, more often than not. She didn't wear a lot of makeup. And frankly, she didn't need to.
She worked as an air hostess (nowadays they're called flight attendants) with a foreign airline. Her kid brother was a bit younger than me and was an aspiring musician. Their parents had passed away, leaving the little apartment to their children. Her parents had also left behind a 1955 Fiat Millecento car. This model had an abbreviated trunk and used to be known as
Dukker Gadi
(Pig Mobile in Marathi). Although the car was old and temperamental, Gargi was inordinately proud of it and lavished a lot of care and attention on it.
Gargi and I often exchanged greetings when I was on my way to or from my office while she was either waiting for or alighting from the pick-up van of her airline. She was always a sight to behold: her natural good looks were further accentuated by the smart western style uniform of an air-hostess that she wore. She didn't look wilted even when she returned from long, tiring flights. Her natural born sensuality made her irresistible to young Lotharios like me, although the engagement ring she wore was a bit of a dampener. Even though I was rather shy around girls, I didn't want to miss any opportunity to get close to her. Soon after we met, I started to help her get her car serviced and repaired. In return she began to invite me to her apartment and offered delicious home-made snacks - she was an excellent cook and knew dozens of recipes she'd learnt from her mother and grandmother. Her community is well known for the excellence of their cuisine, the erudition of their men and the beauty of their women. I eagerly looked forward to talk to her or to just be with her. She too enjoyed having me around. She perhaps looked upon me as a substitute younger sibling, since her brother frequently travelled to different cities along with his band, and was often away for weeks at a stretch.
A few months after our acquaintance began, Gargi met with a small mishap - she sprained her back and had to be grounded. The doctor said that she wouldn't be able to fly for around a month. She was admonished not to lift heavy stuff, not to bend, take plenty of rest, take painkillers and exercise regularly under the supervision of a physiotherapist. Being used to an active lifestyle, she found these restrictions rather galling. Her brother not being around to support her also affected her badly.
I made it a point to try and spend some time with her in the evenings. She took comfort in my company and found a good listener in me. I regaled her with interesting titbits about the happenings in my office, funny incidents of my childhood and so forth. While I was very attracted to her, I was too bashful to flirt with her or show my feelings. I was in fact on my guard all the time to hide my attraction. Although she was worldly and experienced enough to know that I was attracted to her, she perhaps just dismissed it as a passing crush. After all, I was at least five years younger than her. She perhaps just couldn't see a potential mate in me, at least in the beginning.
During our long conversations, she gradually opened up to reveal some of her private thoughts and feelings. She told me about her on again - off again relationship with a purser (as male flight attendants were known those days) working for another airline. At one point they had been engaged. She had however broken it off when she got a confirmation that he was sleeping with a colleague of his. I was a bit shocked when Gargi told me that it wasn't the sleeping itself that bothered her - it appeared that it was not unusual for airline flight crew to have casual flings on layovers. She considered that to be almost natural, given that young, attractive people worked in close proximity for long hours and then had an opportunity to let their hair down in the privacy of anonymous hotel rooms away from home base. No, what she found objectionable was that he was sleeping with the same girl repeatedly. Apparently, he had inveigled the scheduling staff into getting them assigned on the same flights. Somebody in the scheduling department knew Gargi and had tipped her off...
So, did Gargi too have casual flings on layovers? The question arose in my mind but I quickly bit it back before it reached my lips. She perhaps read it in my eyes, judging by the long, appraising look she gave me before lowering her eyes. My heart fluttered and I felt a stirring in my loins...
"Oh, I still wear that. It helps to avoid unwanted male attention." She said, catching my look at the engagement ring that she wore. She then twisted the ring off and rubbed the welt on her finger. Was that a hidden invitation? I wondered. The ring stayed off her finger for the next several months...
As the days wore on, Gargi got better. Her back pain abated considerably and she was able to move about in her apartment and do household chores. She avoided going out, except for her visits to the physiotherapist. However, I did notice that she wasn't back to her normal bubbly, cheerful self. She had also put on some weight and wasn't taking as much care of her appearance as she normally did. In spite of that, she still looked devastatingly attractive. In fact, the added weight around her bust and hips made her even sexier...
I also noticed a subtle change in her attitude towards me. Many times I caught her appraising, sidelong glances at me, an intriguing little smile playing on her lips. She would immediately look away when she was caught. She also started teasing me and pulling my leg.
"Office madhlya pori tujhyawar ekdum fida astil na?"
"Girls in your office must be having the hots for you, haven't they?"
"Nahi buwa. Tula asse ka watate? Amchya office madhil koni tula bhetle kaay?"
"No... Why do you think so? Have you met someone from my office?" I responded innocently.
"Ugich banu nakos hunh! Swatahala arshyat pahile nahis ka? Ekdum chikna ani rubabdar distos!"
"C'mon, don't try to act so innocent! Haven't you seen yourself in the mirror lately? What a handsome hunk!" She responded with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. But behind her light hearted teasing, I could sense her growing awareness that I was a man, not just a substitute sibling. My ears went red and my cock lurched into wakefulness.
